Owner hopes for big score

Oldest known hockey stick hits the market again and bids started at $50,000

Mark Presley holds a nearly 180-year-old maple hockey stick at his Berwick home in 2010. The stick is believed to be the oldest in Canada. (CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / Staff)

BERWICK — The world’s oldest hockey stick is up for sale again, but be prepared to dig deep if you want a piece of the action.

Bidding has started at US$50,000 for the Moffatt stick, a 180-year-old hockey stick purchased by Mark Presley of Berwick in 2008.

Presley, a 46-year-old social worker, bought the stick for $1,000 from a retired barber in North Sydney, who had displayed it in his shop for over 30 years. But he’s looking for much more than that now for the rare piece of hockey memorabilia.

He put it up for bidding on eBay for 10 days last March. On the ninth day, offers reached $100,000, after the listing garnered almost 40,000 views and 72 bids online.

Presley pulled the listing 24 hours before it was set to end, after an unnamed national museum expressed concerns that the stick would leave Canada.

Interviewed at his home Thursday, Presley would not name the museum, but said he agreed to enter into negotiations, which didn’t pan out the way he expected, so the stick is for sale once again.

“At this juncture, we’re just too far apart. But my hope is that it remains in Canada. … That stick should be for Canadians and available to them,” he said.

Through the bidding process, he hopes “to gain a better sense about what Canadians, and perhaps even local people, think about the object and its significance.”

“It’s a significant item in terms of our identity and the terms that are attached to that. It’s deemed by many to be a national treasure,” Presley said.

But he has had strong interest from bidders in the U.S., where there are many strong hockey markets and “some very well-to-do hockey-playing Canadians,” he added.

He would not say what he wants to be paid for the artifact, which has not been formally appraised. “But I have a level of expectation that I think is fair.”

The Moffatt stick is an excellent example of early hockey in Canada, he said. Researchers from Mount Allison University used tree-ring aging to help determine the stick’s approximate age.

It’s believed to have been made around 1835 and was originally owned by W.M. Moffatt of North Sydney.

Presley posted the university test results on his website, along with pictures of the artifact and details about its history.

Made of sugar maple, it has the initials W.M. carved into the blade. It is currently being stored in a vault, Presley said.

On Thursday, Day 2 of the seven-day bidding process, there was one bid on eBay for US$50,000, or C$54,362.48.

He said people are finally recognizing the stick for what it is, “a well-researched national treasure.”

Although bidding reached $100,000 the last time it was listed, Presley feels it could have gone much higher. “As everyone knows, it’s always late in an auction where there’s the real activity.

“With 24 hours left, who’s to say where it may have gone? You never know.”

He said if the bidding doesn’t bring what he wants, he has no problem pulling the plug again. “There’s always the possibility that if it doesn’t make the grade, it’s a matter of relisting it.”

The last time he listed it, bidding started at $10,000, while the first bid this time around is $50,000.

He said it would be nice to see the stick in local hands.

“Nova Scotians are very important contributors to the evolution of the game … and the Moffatt stick is part of that.”